Battle Royale

Like school, the cinema can teach you important lessons. Unlike the subjects you study in class, though, oftentimes a movie’s main lesson is that things can always be worse. From “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2″ to “Heathers,” here are the nine most horrible school days ever committed to film.

Feminist exploitation movies have a way of turning violence against women on its head, taking the kick-ass female heroine to an extreme, turning women from victims into predators. They make radical ultraviolence a commentary on the treatment of women in society — and reclaim female power, especially when they come from female directors like the Soska sisters, the women behind DEAD HOOKER IN A TRUNK, airing tonight at midnight.